Timed Regret
by BoundChrysalis
Summary: UPDATED...In times of hardship, we turn to those who have loved us unconditionally from the start. It's never about what has happened, or what never happened: just about what is.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Own nothing. Nada. Just borrowing.

A/N: This is a repost under a different title and name, edited and to be completed. Previously "Can't Wait No Longer".

**CHAPTER ONE:**

Rory glanced up from her book at the sound of knocking on the other side of her bedroom door.

"Rory? Are you awake? Can I come in?"

Martha. Furrowing her brows in confusion, Rory looked sideways at the digital clock by her bed, which read 9:40pm. Martha wasn't due home for another two hours.

"Um, yeah, sure, come in." Rory answered uncertainly as she placed her book to the side.

Martha slowly poked her head through the door, still in her business suit from work before making her way to the foot of the bed, where she stood apprehensively.

"Oh, um, here, sit down." Rory hastily grabbed her books, folders and other school items from the end of the bed and placed them on the ground beside her as she sat cross-legged, facing Martha, who was constantly fidgeting as she sat, trying to find a more comfortable position to sit in.

"You bought a new bedside lamp," Martha stated as she pointed towards the purple lamp by Rory's bed.

"Oh, yeah…I, uh, just bought it last month," Rory cautiously answered.

"Nice," Martha whispered, almost to herself.

Several moments of awkward, tense silence reigned before she spoke again.

"I spoke to Dr. Simmons today," Martha unfolded her arms and carefully placed her hands in her lap.

"Oh?" Rory quietly questioned, finding a sudden interest in the pattern on her bedspread.

"He said you weren't interested in many of the treatments for your leukemia."

Rory tensed at the word 'leukemia', and began tracing the outline of the patterns with her finger.

Oblivious to Rory's discomfort, Martha continued. "He said he gave you a couple of choices…chemotherapy, radiation therapy…" she paused briefly before starting again. "Rory, this isn't a simple flu or cold. You have to understand that. You can't just take some aspirin, or wait for the sickness to wear itself out after a couple of days."

"I know that." Rory croaked out weakly. She cleared her throat, trying to find her voice as she looked up at Martha. "Two weeks ago, I was told I had leukemia…that I was dying, and that going through with all this treatment would only extend my time, but making me sicker in the process. I'd rather not have that extra time if from now on I spend most of my time having treatment and getting sick because of it. I'd rather…I'd rather just enjoy it."

Rory took a shaky breath in as she looked back down at the bedspread, trying to fight her tears.

"Very well then." Martha sighed. She knew it wasn't her place to tell Rory what to do, and she knew that Rory still had not known her long enough to accept any of her judgments. "I still have some numbers Dr. Simmons gave me today in case you change your mind. And he would like to see you sometime soon."

Martha pulled out a piece of paper from her handbag and handed it to Rory, who accepted it silently.

Martha slowly stood up, smoothing out invisible wrinkles in her skirt. "Well, I better leave you now to get some sleep, it's getting late."

Rory offered her a weak smile in return as Martha walked out of the room. Biting her bottom lip, she glanced over the things on the page before inserting the paper into her book and placing it beside her bed. She paused for a moment in contemplation before running to the top of the stairs.

"Martha?" she called cautiously to Martha, who looked up from her place at the foot of the stairs.

"G-goodnight." Rory stuttered clumsily.

Martha's mouth straightened into a tight line as she looked at Rory for a moment before walking down the hallway on the bottom floor.

Sighing wistfully, Rory took a step back and headed back towards her elaborately decorated bedroom.

* * *

"So…two hours early, huh?" Liz inquired, walking along her best friend as they made their way to Chilton.

"Yeah," Rory answered as she shifted her backpack on her shoulders.

"And a decent conversation, too?"

"Yup."

"Whoa."

"You're telling me."

"You know, Rory, she really does care about you."

"Yeah, great way of showing it." Rory kicked a pebble on the footpath in front of her.

Liz stopped in her tracks to turn to Rory exasperatingly. She was well aware that it could turn ugly, and she chose her words carefully. "Rory, I'm not just saying this because all this stuff that has been happening with you for the past two weeks, but you really need to give Martha a chance to be a mother-like figure to you. It isn't going to work otherwise."

Rory shook her head helplessly, staring at her feet. "I do, Liz! What would you call last night, when I even went to the extreme of saying 'goodnight' to her? She didn't even answer me. She couldn't answer something as simple as 'goodnight'."

"Rory, you don't even call her mum." Liz firmly but gently pointed out.

Rory started walking again, with Liz in tow beside her. "Well, I'm sorry if I can't go into some stranger's house and wave and say, 'Hi, mum, dad, my name is Rory, and I'm going to be your daughter from now on. Oh, I'm sorry; apparently I don't have a dad because you're widowed. Well, that's fine then, we can still make our own Brady Bunch with the maids and cooks.'"

"No-one's asking you to form a Brady Bunch." Liz tried to laugh off the tension. "I'm just saying that you're sixteen, you need a mum, no matter how much you try to deny it. I know you, Rory, and I know that even though you're one of the most independent people I have ever met, there is still that part of you that is yearning for a mother figure."

Rory looked down at her feet as they continued walking but said nothing. She knew Liz was right; they both knew.

Liz broke the silence ten minutes later as they approached their lockers. "So, who've you got first period?"

"Um…Medina." Rory replied as she swung open her locker.

Liz sighed. "Well, I guess I won't see you till recess then. Meet you at the usual place?"

Rory managed a weak smile for her friend as she slammed her locker door shut. "Yeah. Meet you there."

Rory shifted in her seat, unable to concentrate. In the back of her mind she could vaguely hear Mr. Medina's voice talking about the satire used in books. She shook her head, trying to refocus; but Liz's words kept any successes in focusing short-lived.

"_There is still that part of you that is yearning for a mother figure."_

A mother figure.

From what Rory had seen throughout her life amidst five different families, a mother-or father-was just someone who gave you a room, their surname and had enough money to send you to the best schools in the state; the schooling sector as requested by her biological family, she suspected.

But as a result of that request she had been taken from family to family all her life; she was taken away after just a couple of years because they did not have enough money to send her to the next stage of her schooling, or they did not live close enough to the high school, or elementary school, and vice versa.

Of course, in other cases there were other reasons besides schooling; but she kept those reasons to herself. She was not willing to neither share any of the facts nor relive them. Not even Liz knew what had happened with those families, and she had given up asking about them a long time ago.

Rory now lived with Martha Haylesbury in the rich suburbs of Hartford, near Chilton; this had been so for the last two years, since she had started attending Chilton.

When Rory met Liz and her family upon her arrival into Chilton, Liz's parents had brought up the fact that the agency should have been able to find a better home for Rory to live in; a home with two parents rather than one, and maybe even some other children, to give it a more family-like notion.

To an extent Rory had agreed with them, but while she admitted it did not set up the most picturesque life for her, she did not mind the peace and quiet of the large house. Over the years Rory had grown to depend on herself and not on anyone else; Martha being out of town for most of the time and leaving her with the cooks and maids of the house had never really affected her. It gave her a chance to take care of herself, as she was more than capable of doing, especially for a sixteen year old.

But two weeks ago, the world Rory had developed for herself had come crashing down around her.

She was diagnosed with leukemia, and she was dying.

"Rory?" Rory jerked her head up, startled, as a piece of paper was waved in front of her. "Ah, good to see you're still with us. Here's your paper."

"Sorry Mr. Medina." Rory felt her cheeks flush as she sheepishly took the paper out of his hand.

She glanced over the paper confusedly before relaxing in recognition as she realized it to be an essay she had handed in a couple of weeks before. She smiled at the A+ visible at the top of her page.

Scanning her eyes across the top of her page, she rested her gaze on her name, written in neat cursive: Rory Haylesbury.

Many people found it weird that she had to change her name every once in a while, according to the family she was living in. At first, when she was old enough to understand what was going on, she had wanted to take her biological surname. But no-one had ever told her the surname, and she knew she was still too young back then to ask the agency any information about her real family.

So, as fake as it may sound both to her and the people around her, here she was: Lorelai Leigh Haylesbury. But Rory didn't like to add her full name to any surname given to her. It was the one thing that belonged to her real self rather than the family she was living with at that point in time.

* * *

"Rory!"

Rory looked up from her book and smiled at Liz from the shade of the oak tree as she ran up the grassy hill towards her.

"Hey," she greeted as Liz dumped herself heavily beside Rory. "I saw you talking to Dave down there."

"Yeah." Liz smiled mysteriously.

"So…?" Rory grinned.

"So, what?" Liz hid her smile as she poked absently at the grass.

"Well tell me! What did he say?" Rory prodded.

"Nothing. He just wanted to give me back my notes from science." Liz shrugged teasingly at Rory.

Rory groaned frustratingly.

Liz giggled as she raised her eyebrows at Rory. "What, so I now serve as your personal soapy entertainment show?"

"Of course." Rory replied breezily.

"Fine, you win. Next time I will guarantee undying love, bloodshed and a riot or two," Liz muttered as she leant back on her elbows and looked up at the sky, her eyes squinting in the sun.

"I'm holding you onto that one, Juliet," Rory smirked as she took a bite out of her sandwich.

The two sat in a comfortable silence for a moment or two before Rory quietly spoke quietly.

"Liz?"

"Hmm?" Liz turned her head to face Rory as a gesture to show her full attention.

"I thought about what you said today, and…I think you're right."

"So…what does that mean? You're going to give her a chance?"

Rory took a deep breath in and hesitated for a second before answering. "I want to meet my birth-mother."

Liz almost choked on her apple. "_What!"_

"I want to meet my birth-mother." Rory answered, with more courage. "I mean, I know it doesn't mean I'm going to have a mother figure, but I need the closure and satisfaction that there is someone out there who…I don't know, is my real family."

"Rory, listen to me here." Liz put her apple down and sat up. "Do you have _any _idea how big this decision is? It's not something you decide just like that! I mean, what will Martha think of this! And how are you certain that you'll even find her?"

"Martha shouldn't have a problem with it, I know she won't. And the agency has all the information I need; I just need to ask them. I can use a mix of circumstance and sweet talk to get at least some information out of them" Rory replied absently.

Liz looked down and shuffled in discomfort as she spoke softer. "And Rory, the last thing I want to do right now is bring this up, but…you're sick, Rory. You're sick." She looked Rory in the eye. "I mean, this woman, wherever she is, is about to meet her long-lost daughter, only to find out that her daughter is dying. You can't do that to her. It's not fair, Rory."

"She doesn't have to know." Rory quietly answered. "I only want to see her, just once. Just to see what she's like, who she is, just…meet her. That's all. I mean, all my life, I've wondered about this woman. And now, this is my last chance to meet her. It's now or never. She doesn't have to know anything about it."

"But what if she meets you, and decides she wants more than that? What then?"

"Liz, as far as I know, she is probably married with kids, and has her own life. I'm sure she'll be pretty happy to let me go my own way after that one meeting."

"But what if she's not! How do you know all this, Rory! You need to think this through!" Liz answered, frustrated.

"I have thought this through Liz: and I want to meet my mother."

Liz sighed. She knew too well that Rory wouldn't give up so easily. "Alright then. I just hope you know what you're doing Rory."

Rory nodded distractedly as she pulled her knees up to her chin.

"So do I, Liz." She whispered. "So do I."

* * *

You know the drill…pat the pretty button.

-BoundChrysalis


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Own nothing. Nada. Just borrowing.

For those of you who managed to survive the prologue, here's chapter one…much longer and with a few more familiar faces around.

Enjoy! –Bound Chrysalis

* * *

"Rory Haylesbury?" Rory put down the magazine she was reading in the waiting area and glanced up at the secretary. "You may go in now." 

Rory gave her a small smile as she passed the desk and made her way through the old oak doors and into the familiar office.

"Rory, hello. Have a seat." The woman in the office had her back turned to Rory as she shuffled through a number of files. Rory quietly sat down onto the chair opposite the desk and waited patiently. "Aha, here it is."

The woman pulled out a thick folder from the cabinet before turning and seating herself at the desk. "Now, I have been told you want to track down your birthparents, am I correct?" she asked as she flipped through some pages in the folder.

"Um, yes." Rory answered shyly.

"And it says here you turned 16 last October, is that right?"

"Yes, on the 8th." Rory confirmed, squirming uncomfortably in her seat.

"Oookay…" the woman gave Rory a small, friendly smile as she pulled out some sheets from the folder. "I phoned your guardian today, she is aware of what is going on and she has no problem with it. So I guess you're all set now. Here is all the information we have that may be of use to you if you want to track them down."

Rory accepted the paper with trembling hands and sat up tensely as the woman leaned forward on the desk, her hands crossed.

"Now, Rory, it is my job to warn you. Too many adopted children just like you have been able to find one, or both, of their birth-parents and have been disappointed. Some parents did not want to meet their children, and others…well, others weren't exactly the type of people you would want your parents to be, or turn out as. You are aware of all these possibilities, aren't you?"

Rory nodded, biting her bottom lip nervously. "Yep…I just want to meet them, see who they are. I'm just curious, I guess."

"Okay, good. Well, I should let you go now, I'm certain you have some things to take care of." The woman winked at Rory as she stood up. "Good luck."

"Thank you." Rory smiled warmly at the woman before turning and heading out the door.

Once back outside on the main streets of Hartford, Rory stopped at the front of the building and pulled out the piece of paper the woman had given her.

_Father: no information recorded_

Rory furrowed her brows. She wouldn't know her real surname now. She sighed as her eyes scanned further down the page. Her mum's surname will have to do.

_Mother: Lorelai Victoria Gilmore_

_Ph: N/A_

_Address: 34 Apricot Ave _

_Stars Hollow 15632_

Rory let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "Lorelai Leigh Gilmore." She said to herself under her breath. "I like it."

Rory placed the paper back into her pocket and smiled to herself as she made her way down the road; but after a few steps she stopped, turned around and jogged down the road towards Liz's house, eager to share her news.

* * *

Two weeks later, after being bedridden for over a week after falling sick just days after receiving the information on her birth mother, Rory found herself standing in front of 34 Apricot Avenue in the small town known as Stars Hollow. She had to admit that it was one of the more interesting places she had been to. It seemed much friendlier and livelier than the streets of Hartford. 

However, she had come across some strange people while asking for directions; many had even given her some strange looks when she approached them. Their eyes almost reflected a sense of…familiarity, as if they had seen Rory before. But they were all friendly and interesting characters, nonetheless.

Rory's legs felt like lead as she slowly trudged up the steps leading up to the front porch of the small, welcoming and cozy-looking house. Taking a deep breath in, Rory rang the doorbell, each heavy heartbeat painfully stinging against her ribs. She jumped, startled, as the woman she spotted earlier on next door tending to what seemed like hundreds of garden gnomes walked up to her.

"Hello, sugar, you looking for Lorelai?" she asked in a husky but pleasant voice.

"Um, yes, do you know where she is?" Rory asked, immediately taking a liking to this short, plump, curly-haired woman standing in front of her.

"She'll still be at work…if she's not at the diner," she said, smirking at her own last comment before she noticed Rory's blank expression. "She works at the Independence Inn; you'll probably find her there. Just go down three blocks down that way and turn right. You can't miss it."

"Oh! Okay, thank you." Rory smiled as she started towards the steps.

"Bye, dear," the woman called after her.

No more than fifteen minutes had passed before Rory found herself standing in the lobby of 'The Independence Inn'. She stood for a moment, relishing in the atmosphere of the small inn; the loud chatter of people talking from the café, the harp playing in the next room, the sounds of pots and pans coming from the kitchen, the sound of…

"Oh no," she jumped as she heard a French accent behind her, coming from the front desk where she noticed a man standing indignantly with a scowl on his face, who glared at Rory before making his way into what sounded like the kitchen. "Lorelai! You told me no more relatives of yours were ever going to step foot in the inn again after that disastrous family reunion your parents made you have here years ago."

"And I meant it!" Lorelai looked up as Michel entered the kitchen. "What's going on?"

"See for yourself," he snorted back as he left the kitchen.

Lorelai looked at Sookie with a questioning face before craning her neck slightly to get a view of the lobby. She froze for a moment, her eyes wide, before she quickly turned and pinned herself against the wall, the features of her face stricken. "Oh my God, Sookie."

"What?" Sookie put down her wooden spoon and stopped stirring the stew in the large pan, which immediately started boiling over the rim.

"I think…I think it's her." Lorelai's breaths were coming in short gasps.

"Who? Ooh, is she famous!" Sookie started making her way to the door.

"No! Don't go outside!" Lorelai grabbed Sookie's arm and tried to block the door; but it was to no avail, and in two seconds flat Lorelai had stumbled ungracefully into the foyer, just metres away from Rory.

Rory jumped back, startled, as she stared at the woman who had just staggered into her view. Could this be…?

"Lorelai Gilmore." She shook Rory's hand as she approached her, brushing off her pants with embarrassment. "Um…can I help you?"

Okay, so maybe it could.

"Oh! Um, Rory. My name is Rory." Rory smiled up at her, all the words she had rehearsed on her way into Stars Hollow being erased by her own fear.

"Huh." Lorelai stood for a moment, looking into the young girl's blue eyes identical to her own before asking a question that took the both of them by surprise. She had to know the truth about this girl, and, being the impatient person she was, she allowed her curiousity to give way. "So, uh…would you like to get some coffee? There's some great coffee just a couple of blocks down from here."

Rory's eyes went wide as she contemplated the question. _Could she possibly already know who I am!_

"Oh, uh…" Rory stuttered, glancing to the side nervously.

"It won't take long, we could just you know, sit around for a while…" Lorelai began apprehensively.

"Sure." Rory answered with a smile, taken aback by the confidence in her own voice.

Lorelai visibly relaxed. "Okay, then…just let me get my jacket and…we'll go."

Rory watched Lorelai as she made her way back inside. She had a feeling Lorelai would be nothing like she had pictured her mother to be.

* * *

"So tell me," Rory brought up after several minutes of silent walking, "do you always take random people who walk into your inn out for coffee?" 

"We-ell, as much as I would love to say yes because it would be great for business…no." Lorelai answered with a smile. "And besides, I really don't think the people around me would be so happy about me having so much coffee. I wouldn't mind at all though."

Rory laughed. "I can see why. I'm a big fan of coffee myself."

Neither said a word for a couple of seconds, each lost in their own thoughts. Lorelai was once again linking this to the question that had been on her mind ever since she spotted Rory standing in the lobby; and Rory was wondering whether Lorelai knew who she was. She certainly suspected, Rory knew that much…but how confident Lorelai was with this assumption she was not so sure.

"So to what do I owe being an exception?" Rory prodded further.

Lorelai hesitated before answering.

"Rory can I ask you a question?" Lorelai asked, stopping their steady walk.

"Um, sure." Rory looked down, shuffling her feet, suddenly finding it hard to breathe from the sudden heat suffocating her.

"Rory," Lorelai repeated as she leant down till she was eye-level to Rory. She gently lifted Rory's chin, adverting Rory's gaze into Lorelai's blue eyes that mirrored her own. "You're my daughter, aren't you?"

Rory froze for a second, unable to do anything but nod her head mechanically.

Slowly allowing herself time to process the information, Lorelai lowered her hand and straightened up, taking a deep, tense breath in as she looked up to the sun, squinting her eyes as she replayed the concept over and over again in her mind.

_My daughter…I am her mum, and she is my daughter…this is my daughter._

She couldn't help but smile to herself.

Rory, however, had taken Lorelai's sudden silence the wrong way, and had already begun to take a couple of steps backward, looking panic-stricken. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come. Look at me, pouncing this on you without even giving a phone call first. I really should have tried to find your number before I came. Oh, god, I'm sorry; I should go, really; sorry to have bothered you. We can just…forget this little meeting ever happened. It will be swiped from history. No hard feelings whatsoever. No sir-ee."

Lorelai grabbed Rory by the forearms to stop her rambling, knowing all too well she had inherited that from her. "Rory-hey, calm down. Calm down."

Lorelai's heart melted as she looked at Rory, who, on the verge of tears, looked fragile and emotionally drained as she stared back at Lorelai, her eyes wide.

Before Lorelai knew what she was doing, she had wrapped her arms around Rory, enveloping her into a large hug that provided comfort that could only be brought from a mother's love for their child.

"Don't be sorry. I should really be thanking you." Lorelai whispered before she pulled away and looked at Rory, feeling tears coming to her own eyes. "You don't know how glad I am that you came to see me."

"Really?" Rory asked, wiping away a stray tear.

"Really." Lorelai confirmed before linking her arm in Rory's, smiling warmly. "Now let's head towards the happy coffee."

"Sure," Rory smiled back at Lorelai as they continued their way to Luke's, together for the first time in sixteen years.

* * *

"Luke! Coffee!" 

Rory winced as Lorelai shouted for Luke immediately upon their arrival into the diner. Whereas Lorelai appeared to be quite used to the small but crowded diner, all the hustle and bustle had taken Rory by surprise and she could feel a major headache coming on as she felt the full effects of her active day take their toll on her.

"Come on Rory, I found a table." Lorelai said a bit quieter but still with a forced loudness in her voice so as to be heard above the noise while she pulled Rory towards a table near the window, motioning her to take a seat.

Lorelai's face adopted a look of concern as she noticed Rory's sudden change in demeanor. "Hey, you okay there? You're looking a little…green."

"Oh, uh, yeah, I'm…fine. Um, is there a bathroom around here?" Rory tried to smile as she looked up at Lorelai.

"Yeah, there's one just around the corner." Lorelai replied, narrowing her eyes as Rory quickly turned in the direction Lorelai pointed her in. "Do you want me to…?"

"No it's okay," Rory cut her off. "I'll be fine. Just order the coffees; I'll be right back."

Lorelai sighed and sank into her chair as she watched Rory disappear into the lunchtime crowd.

"I take it this isn't yours?"

Lorelai looked up to notice Luke standing by Rory's chair, pointing out her jacket slung over the chair.

"No, it's Rory's." Lorelai looked up at him. "Oh! Yeah, before I forget…Luke, this is Rory. Rory, this is Luke. Well don't just stand there, Luke; say hi."

Lorelai smirked at Luke's face.

"Relax, Luke, I'm only playing with your mind," she laughed.

"And once again, I find the question of how many times you were forced to watch 'The Sixth Sense' to fully understand the ending comes to mind." Luke rolled his eyes.

"Well, how about that." Lorelai breathed as she held out two large coffee mugs at Luke, smiling sweetly at him. "Come on, Lukey, where's the coffee I so politely hollered for?"

"So am I supposed to know this Rory person?" he asked, purposely ignoring Lorelai's plea for coffee.

"Well, I guess you could say that." Lorelai said quietly, looking down at her empty coffee mug. At this point Luke was not sure of whether Lorelai's sudden change in mood was a result of the lack of caffeine in her mug, or something else that was on her mind.

"Lorelai?" Luke asked softly after a couple of moments of unnerving silence, now almost certain the look on Lorelai's face had nothing to do with the coffee.

"She's my daughter, Luke," Lorelai finally looked up at him.

"Wha…What!" Luke gawked as he placed the coffee pot on the table as Lorelai simply nodded. "You mean, this is the daughter you…this is _the _daughter!"

"Well, unless I have another daughter I am currently somehow unaware of; yes." Lorelai interrupted before he had a chance to say anything else.

"But how, when…I don't understand, how did this happen? How did she end up here? With you?" Luke put his hands on the table, leaning forward.

Lorelai sighed. "Today, she just…she turned up at the inn asking for me. The first time I saw her, I knew there was something about this girl; but then I saw her eyes, her face…they were so familiar. Then suddenly it…" Lorelai shook her head wistfully as she looked back down at the mug, fingering the handle distractedly. "It just clicked."

Lorelai glanced up at Luke, who looked at her expectantly.

"Then, knowing me, I panicked and got Sookie excited…things got ugly, next thing I know I'm shaking this girl's hand asking if she wanted coffee." Lorelai smiled weakly at Luke.

"So she's here now?" Luke asked, bewildered.

"Yes." Lorelai nodded.

"With you?"

"Yes."

"So she's here, now, at this diner, with you?" Luke repeated again.

"Yes, I believe we've established that already." Lorelai replied before she spotted Rory approaching their table. "And here she is now."

"Hey," Rory timidly came to the table.

"Hey…you feeling any better now? You didn't look so good earlier." Lorelai gave her a worried glance.

"Yeah, I'm fine; I was just a little tired, that's all. Nothing a bit of coffee can't fix." Rory smiled reassuringly at Lorelai, who appeared to have accepted Rory's excuse for her sudden weariness after the walk, much to Rory's relief.

"Ah, talking of coffee," Lorelai began as she grinned at Luke, "This is Luke, my famous coffee-supplier."

"Hey," Rory shyly greeted him.

"Um, hi." Luke looked down at Rory, surprised by the resemblance the two held.

"Wow, Luke, two syllables. Of course, some might not count 'um' as a syllable, but hey, that's progress." Lorelai winked at Rory, who appeared to have quite an amused look on her face.

"Ahem," Lorelai cleared her throat, holding two large coffee mugs up at Luke. "Come on Lukey, third time lucky…please?"

Luke groaned.

"Two one-way tickets to your grave, coming right up," he muttered as he reluctantly poured coffee into the two mugs.

Lorelai beamed as she watched the mugs rapidly fill up, not noticing Rory's sudden uneasiness at Luke's remark.

The trio turned as somebody called Luke's name from the door of the diner.

"Oh, geez, what now," Luke mumbled as he placed the coffee pot onto the table.

"Sounds like you are being summoned." Lorelai smirked.

"Yes, and by Taylor, out of all people." Luke grunted as he turned to leave the table. "I'll be right back."

Rory craned her neck to get a better view. "Who's Taylor?"

Lorelai turned around again to face Rory. "Oh, he's the town's mayor. He's always bugging Luke to get some town spirit, especially trying to get him to put up decorations for the town's festivals. He gets especially persistent around Halloween and Christmas. I wonder what it is this time."

Rory raised her eyebrows. "Mayor? Festivals? This town is getting more interesting by the second."

Lorelai grinned deviously. "Oh, wait till you see the town meetings."

"Oh my God." Rory laughed.

"So you've never been here, huh?" Lorelai inquired.

"Well, I passed through here a couple of times, but I never really noticed it was a town."

"Yes, well, it happens." Lorelai shrugged.

"The people are nice, though." Rory said, stirring her coffee. "Especially your neighbour. She's the one who told me to come find you at the inn."

"Ah, Babette?" Lorelai asked.

"I don't know her name, but she had a lot of gnomes, if that helps."

"Yeah, that would be Babette." Lorelai smiled.

Rory nodded as she sipped her coffee.

"So…tell me about yourself." Lorelai folded her arms across the table in front of her.

"Well…what do you wanna know?" Rory asked.

"I don't know, just general stuff…where you live, who you live with…" Lorelai shrugged. "Anything you think is worth telling."

"Okaaay," Rory tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, biting her lip. "Well I live in Hartford, with someone called Martha Haylesbury. Uh, I go to Chilton, with my best friend Liz. She's really cool, we're pretty close."

"Ah, nice," Lorelai nodded before narrowing her eyes at Rory. "So, uh…do you like this Martha person? I mean, you are happy living with her, right? No problems?"

"Umm, no; no problems." Rory shook her head, a timid smile gracing her face. "I don't really see her much anyway; she works out of town a lot. But there are lots of maids in the house, so I'm never home alone. And I'm always with Liz anyway."

Lorelai nodded pensively, not entirely happy with Rory's answer, but still relieved there were no major problems in Rory's foster family. "What about her husband?"

"Oh, uh, she's a widow." Rory picked up a napkin and began fiddling with it distractedly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have asked." Lorelai said hurriedly.

"No! No, it's okay, I never met him anyway; he died shortly after their marriage, which is why Martha never got to have children." Rory promptly answered, trying to reassure Lorelai.

"Ah, hence the whole adoption thing, right?" Lorelai affirmed in understanding.

"Yeah," Rory smiled at Lorelai, sensing her discomfort. "So what about you?"

"What about me?" Lorelai inquired, raising her eyebrows.

"Well, I know nothing about you, either." Rory said.

"Hmm…there's not much to tell, really," Lorelai laughed. "You've pretty much seen it all…my house, the inn, Luke's diner…that's about it."

A comfortable silence fell between the two as each became absorbed in their own thoughts and new knowledge about the other.

"Hey," Lorelai brought up with a sly grin on her face after a couple of silent moments, "Look what Luke forgot to take with him."

She pointed to the almost-full coffee pot still perched on the edge of the table. Smiling, Rory observed as Lorelai took a side-glance towards the counter, where Luke had resided after his encounter with Taylor.

"Psst! Rory! Pass me the mugs!" she waved her hand across the table with one hand, motioning for Rory to give her the mugs as she kept an eye on Luke. "Quick, before he notices!"

Giggling, Rory held the two large mugs out and watched as Lorelai skillfully poured the coffee into them.

"Okay, one cup down…just one more to go…"

At his place at the counter, Luke was feverishly searching for his pot of coffee as customers ordering coffee continued to build up around him. He stopped as he heard familiar laughter ring through the diner.

_Lorelai_…_the coffee pot…Rory…_

Luke mentally berated himself for being so careless. He had left the coffee pot with Lorelai, out of all people.

He quickly turned to the direction of her table, but was stopped in his tracks at the sight in front of him. Lorelai and Rory were laughing over the coffee pot, shooting an occasional glance his way, obviously sharing a small personal joke.

He couldn't help but smile to himself as he turned back around to make his way back to the counter…even if it meant trusting Lorelai with a full pot of coffee, and having to make some more in record time for his waiting customers.

* * *

"Well, I had better go; it's getting late." Rory said as she stood with Lorelai outside the door of Luke's diner. 

"Oh! Well, uh, how are you getting home? Is someone coming to pick you up?" Lorelai asked as she wrapped her denim jacket tighter around herself, trying to ward off the cool late-afternoon breeze.

"No," Rory shook her head. "I'm just going to catch the bus back to Hartford."

"Hmm," Lorelai furrowed her brows in contemplation. "How about I drop you home? It'll be a lot easier for you, and I have nowhere I need to be right now."

"No thanks," Rory answered quickly, "I mean, it's pretty easy to catch a bus from here to Hartford, there's one coming in ten minutes. Really, it's no problem."

In a way, Rory was welcoming the chance to spend more time with Lorelai; but at the same time the promise she had made to herself about this single meeting kept nagging at the back of her mind. Besides, she didn't want to give Lorelai the wrong impression of her intentions when she arrived in Stars Hollow that morning.

"No problem!" Lorelai laughed uneasily as a feeling of over-protectiveness, something entirely foreign to her, crept over her. "Rory, it's going to be dark very soon, and you're already not feeling a hundred percent…please, just let me take you home."

"I'll be fine. It's okay, really." Rory replied, stopping short as Lorelai began to giggle. "What's so funny?"

"You've got my stubbornness." Lorelai accused amusedly. "We're both as stubborn as each other; I'm telling you now, we're not going to get anywhere with this."

Rory slowly let a smile creep over her face as she, too, began to laugh.

"Come on, mini-me," Lorelai draped an arm over Rory's shoulder, grinning. "My jeep's at the inn, let's go get it."

* * *

"So how long have you and Luke been going out for?" Rory asked as they drove out of Stars Hollow. 

Lorelai snorted. "Excuse me!"

"Come on, I'm not _that_ blind." Rory smiled. "So? How long has it been?"

"Oh, no, you see, we're not exactly going out." Lorelai shook her head vigorously, an unreadable expression on her face that was more of a cross between shock, amusement and confusion.

"But…you'd like to go out with him." Rory stated.

"No! No! I mean, this is Luke we're talking about here, I've know him for over 15 years. He's my best friend, nothing more."

"Yeah, yeah," Rory replied, obviously unconvinced. "But don't wait too long…you'll soon regret it."

Lorelai gave Rory a side-long glance. "You sound like you speak from experience."

"Well, I guess you could say that." She shrugged.

"What was his name?" Lorelai inquired.

"Tristan."

"So…what happened?" Lorelai asked after a short second of silence on Rory's part.

"He broke into a safe and got sent off to military school." Rory sighed. "It was a known fact that he liked me, but I never really discovered I had feelings for him till after he left."

"Ouch. That's gotta suck." Lorelai made a face. "You think you'll ever have a second chance to be with him?"

Rory looked out the window at the passing scenery, remembering her sickness. It had only just hit her that she may never see Tristan again.

"No," she whispered, just loud enough so that Lorelai could hear.

"So…which way do I go from here?" Lorelai spoke, breaking the tense silence.

"Um, turn right," Rory replied after a moment, as if snapping out of a daze. "Ooh, look, that's Liz's house right there."

"Nice," Lorelai said as Rory pointed out the large house. "So is this your road?"

"Yep, my house is the brick one just there," Rory said as they drove up the street.

"Okay, here we go," Lorelai drove up the driveway and stopped the car.

"Thank you so much, Lorelai." Rory said as she reached for the door handle. "I mean, not just for driving me home but for everything; taking me out for coffee, wanting to get to know me…"

"Hey, no problem," Lorelai waved it off. "It was a pleasure to get to know you. Well, uh, I should be heading back, you have my number now, maybe you should give me a ring sometime, and we could do something together."

"Oh, um, okay," Rory attempted to smile as she climbed out of the car. She knew she couldn't ring Lorelai again, and that this would be the last time they would ever see each other; and she almost felt guilty, as if she were lying to Lorelai. "I'll, uh, see what I can do."

"Bye, Rory." Lorelai waved as Rory climbed out of the car.

"Bye," Rory said before walking up the lawn and ringing the doorbell at the large oak doors.

From the car, Lorelai watched and waited as a maid answered the door for Rory. She smiled warmly and waved back to Rory, who had turned and acknowledged her before entering the house.

Lorelai knew there was so much more to her daughter than she had seen; and she was keen to get to know Rory a lot better in the times to come.

* * *

Ask the button for directions. Handy button. 


End file.
